Dr. Petra DeWitt is an alum of Missouri S&T (then UMR) graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1996 with a BA in history.  She earned the MA in history at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and the Ph.D. in history at the University of Missouri-Columbia.  She is currently the faculty advisor of the department's Phi Alpha Theta national history honor society.  In addition to American History survey courses, she offers upper level classes on Historiography, European Migrations, and Modern Germany.

Dr. Dewitt specializes in migration and ethnic history and has published several articles and encyclopedia submissions on the subject, including "'Clear and Present Danger': The Legacy of the 1917 Espionage Act in the United States," Historical Reflexions/Réflexions Historiques (forthcoming); “’Drifting Back Into their Old Ways:’ The Efforts to Banish the German Language from Missouri during the Great War,” Missouri Historical Review 103 (April 2009): 161-82; and “Searching for the Meaning of Loyalty: A Study of the German-American Experience during World War I in Osage County, Missouri,” Yearbook of German-American Studies 39 (2005): 77-92. Her book, Degrees of Allegiance: Harassment and Loyalty in Missouri's Germany-American Community during World War I, was published in 2012 and won that year's Missouri Book Award.